This invention relates to a pneumatically operated hoist and particularly to such a hoist with a braking mechanism for quickly stopping the movement of the cable of such hoist in the event of a sudden change in the load held by the hoist or the loss of the air used to operate the hoist. This hoist includes a braking mechanism that compensates for sudden acceleration of loads carried by the hoist or the sudden changes in such loads.
Pneumatic balancing hoists are well established as a standard in the materials handling industry. These pneumatic balancing hoists or air balancers, have been used to move work pieces about a factory or industrial site. A problem may occur, however, when the hook connected to the cable of the hoist suddenly has a change in the load. As a result of a change in load, for example, when the load is suddenly dropped, the force of the load pulling down on the cable and hook are suddenly no longer present to balance the air pressure contained in the air balancer. In short, a braking means for preventing the cable being pulled up abruptly or with a start has long been desired in the industry. The braking mechanism of the present invention avoids the problem not solved in the prior art that is posed by the longitudinal or axial movement of the drum used in such hoists by eliminating the axial movement from the braking surfaces such that only radial forces are involved in the braking mechanism.
A number of different variations in the design of such pneumatically operated hoists exist; such as can be seen U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,710,107, and related designs in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,324,148 and 3,384,350, which feature a housing with an air chamber for causing rotation of a cable drum as a nut about a stationary ball screw, with a cable rotating on the cable drum and connected to a load. Air is supplied to the chamber by way of an inlet from a source of pressurized air with various means for controlling the supply of air as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,325,148. Each of these earlier patents is incorporated for all purposes into this application. Another design of pneumatically operated hoists can be seen in U.S. Pat. No. 3,286,989 and 3,421,737, which are incorporated herein and employ an air chamber for causing rotation of a cable inside a cylindrical bore of the housing through the use of rollers inside the drum. Again, the cable drum rotates and moves longitudinally as the cable unwinds or winds with the movement of a load.
Prior art approaches to a braking mechanism for a balancing hoist have not resolved this problem. One approach has been to control the movement of the cable by controlling the air pressure counter-balancing the load. Also, to prevent the rapid movement of the cable and load in the event of a loss of pressure in the air pressure chamber, various control mechanisms have been designed to address the sudden loss of air pressure. The designs that address the control of the air pressure, however, have the drawback of being too slow in response as it takes too long to adjust the air pressure to avoid the fast movement of the cable and hook when a load has been dropped. Another approach has been to employ a braking device on the outside of the cable drum through the use of centrifugal force once the speed of the rotation of the cable drum reaches a certain speed. This design can be seen in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,710,107 and 3,286,989. Each of these patents discloses some braking means on the outside of the cable drum that is rotating and moving longitudinally. The problem with each of these designs is that the braking mechanism are unreliable because they must necessarily brake while moving longitudinally. As a result of this longitudinal movement, it has been found that the braking mechanism is inherently unreliable. One braking mechanism in the prior art did attempt to avoid the longitudinal movement. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,276,747, a safety device for rotatable members is disclosed that employs a plurality of pivotable dogs mounted for rotation with the cable drum. This approach, however, has been unworkable primarily because of the locking of the braking mechanism, but also because of the difficulty of installing such a design in a pneumatically operated hoist employing a housing and rotating cable drum such as disclosed and claimed herein.